


Shadow Play

by Sarita1046



Category: Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: 6000 years is a long time to wait, Bodyswap, Confusion, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, F/M, Humanity, Identity Issues, Power Play, Telepathic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:07:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7950964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarita1046/pseuds/Sarita1046
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glance into the relationship among June, Rick and Enchantress, exploring how their connection evolved up until the establishment of Task Force X.</p><p>Inspiration: Deadshot's line, "I've never been with a witch before. What's that like?"</p><p>Disclaimer: Sorry, there's no Joker in this one. Though Harley/June/Enchantress pieces are highly valued. xD</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Three's a Crowd

It was a particularly balmy evening in the Midway region but other than that, it was shaping up to be a night just like any other this summer season.

Rick had finished yet another aggravating meeting with Amanda Waller, in which she had insinuated that he was becoming sidetracked by his feelings for June. Of course, she would see it that way. June and every other (human or meta) being Waller worked and dealt with were mere means to an end. 

Still, he had to put June’s feelings first. She was possibly even more of a pawn in all of this than he was, coveted by Waller for the demonic presence she held within. Or more accurately, the presence that held her. 

Rick couldn’t deny it. The idea that this brilliant young woman had another side to her – this dark side – was undeniably intriguing. After all, he had known them both from the start. With the archaeologist, came the dark entity that inhabited her being. Although he’d only seen the ancient Amerindian spirit - the Enchantress – materialize on several occasions, each was a spectacle he’d never forget. The way she moved…it was straight out of an exorcism movie and yet it was beautiful. Of course, it didn't help that her breasts were on display for all to see.

No. Maybe Rick wasn’t the type to see something as ‘beautiful’. But it was hypnotizing for sure. Perhaps the most bizarre part of all this was that while she possessed June, this creature – this deity – looked like June. Rick always hated to acknowledge the next stop of his thought train, but there was no denying it. The incredibly long, black locks and tribal outfit of the witch suited June’s face and body in a very enticing manner. 

Over all though, the way she moved was feral in a way that Rick couldn’t get enough of. He started to feel really guilty once he caught himself wishing his normal, human June could move more like that…

All thoughts tonight were on getting June home. Or back to their hotel room, as it may be. They were both exhausted – June after putting on yet another show for Waller, only to have the older woman bombard the witch with questions.

Subjects of worship, age, testing how well the former deity was learning English, asking if she would please consider covering her chest in the presence of this world's contemporary 'leaders', etc. Amanda had reasoned that during the time and culture for which Enchantress was relevant, women did not prioritize covering the bosom. 

Rick could see how much the Enchantress despised such interrogation with every fiber of her being. The way she glared at Waller could have melted steel. Yet today there was something different…today, she had actually allowed her photograph to be taken (neck up, of course). Today was also the first time Rick had been present for their questioning, and would be the first time he heard her speak.

Upon glancing briefly at Rick, the witch’s gaze softened a bit, despite the characteristic inhumanly rapid motion of her head. Her inflamed eyes still ablaze, the soldier could have sworn he caught a hint of a smile in their depths. Ever so subtly, she began fingering one of her bracelets, taking her lower lip between her front teeth.

“I’m over here, girl.” Stated Waller, firmly yet calmly. 

If Rick listened carefully, he could hear the steady rhythm of the witch’s breathing, but nothing more. She remained silent, peering daggers at Waller.

“You do know you’re powerless, I hope,” Waller continued, “your time here has passed. You’re fortunate enough to walk again with the aid of a contemporary human, and as such, you will learn to live in our world. You do as we say. Is that understood?”

It only took a few moments for the Enchantress to speak for the first time. “We or you?”

Her voice was husky, Rick noted. Deeper than June’s. Subtle accent. 

“Don’t make me take out the chest,” Waller replied icily, “We are not your playthings. You are at the beckon call of this country now. You will serve along with everyone else for the security of this nation, and there will be no games.”

“Always this…business,” the witch seemed to be searching for the word, the ashes floating lazily about her form, “No rest. I don’t know if I like it.”

That was when her gaze returned ever so fleetingly to Rick as she finished, “Let’s do something fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to have it so that the Enchantress was originally topless (like Amerindian women were down in the tropics of South America millennia ago), and then cover up later for certain reasons.
> 
> Hope everyone likes the opening! xD


	2. Control

That evening, the distant rumble of thunder was approaching fast. Summer showers were in store. 

June’s head hit the pillow with a relieved thud. She was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get some sleep. A long and hopefully uninterrupted sleep. Rick seemed to understand. He knew bringing out the witch took a lot out of her, and yet – for some reason - tonight he seemed a bit restless.

Once they had turned off the lights, it was not long before he cuddled up behind her and began kissing her neck. 

“Rick, please…tomorrow,” June slurred. 

The room was inky black, too dark even for shadows. For shadows, there needed to be some light.

In his own mind, Rick knew he should let up for now. For whatever reason, however, he simply wanted to feel June’s warmth against him. The aura of power that somehow always radiated about her figure made him feel secure in a way that only he had managed to provide himself up till now. 

She was dark and strong and she was all his. Well, June was at least. The unpredictable entity within was volatile, ethereal and intoxicating…and yet it came with the June package. But she – it – was a monster. A danger from which he sought to rescue the human side of June. And yet the thrill-seeker, soldier side of Rick was ever captivated by this dangerous side of the woman lying beside him.

But was it even possible to have June without Enchantress? They were merged. One being. How could they be anything different?

Just then, a very loud clap of thunder sounded seemingly not far away from where they slept and Rick nearly jumped. To his surprise, June did not stir. 

As if on cue, the rain began to pour outside in an apparent cloudburst. The lull of the rain, which usually soothed Rick into sleep, was doing little for his curiosity at the now still form beside him. 

“June?”

No answer.

Just as he reached over to turn on the bedside lamp, a hand caught his own.

“No,” stated June in a heavy whisper, as if her throat was already thick with sleep.

Leaving off the light, Rick turned back to face his bedfellow as two hands came to caress his face before his mouth was assaulted by lips and tongue.

In the back of his mind, Rick lamented pressuring her to do this when she was so tired. At the forefront of his thoughts, however, he was expectedly delighted. 

In no time, June’s lithe form was atop his own and she soon replaced her mouth’s hold on his own with feather kisses down his bare chest. Her breath was hot and comforting, her hair giving off an interesting scent. Like ginger or some other spice. New shampoo, perhaps, Rick thought, recalling how she had showered just before getting into bed.

His thoughts really lost their track when he felt June take his waistband between her teeth. How did she go from fatigued to ablaze in a matter of moments? As he reached up to stroke her hair, the woman before him clasped his wrists in her hands as if slapping him away. 

The mood tilted a bit as June managed to pull down his boxers with her teeth. Not only was this out of the blue, it was unusual for June, who was typically shy about using her mouth for anything besides kissing.

In the back of his mind again, Rick’s logical brain was urging him that something was off. And yet something – something was overriding this voice, telling him not to care. 

June’s breathing was heavy, almost erratic, yet quiet. He could barely hear her over the next thunderclap outside and the heavy torrent of rain – as she slowly took him in her mouth. 

The combination of pure euphoria and urgency simmering just beneath the surface – urgency that something was very off – was just bizarre.

“J-June,” he stammered, inwardly berating himself, “You don’t have to…if you’re tired…”

That was when the woman at his waist gripped his wrists harder, complemented by an increased pressure on his flesh against her tongue. The fact that she was leaning on his knees, rendering him unable to move easily and forcing him to feel every movement of her mouth was a little maddening. 

As much as Rick’s reasonable side and primitive side struggled for dominance, the soldier side realized one thing: June had never, ever been this enthusiastic. This aggressive, in bed. It wasn’t her and yet he couldn’t get enough of it right now…

It only took a minute or so longer before Rick’s breathing joined June’s as he approached climax. Soon enough, his hips bucked and the weight on his lower half let up a bit, the warm wetness slipping off his arousal…

Somewhat disillusioned by the teasing, Rick opened his eyes for the first time as the strong grip released his wrists and his hands instinctively reached out to tangle themselves in June’s hair….

It was at about the same time that Rick’s fingers picked up on the too-long tresses of hair as two fiery eyes blinked up at him from the darkness. 

Outside, the lightning flashed, showing the true face before him. Languidly, she held a black finger to her lips as the light disappeared and the thunder crashed overhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was a bit of guilty pleasure, but has definite undertones of certain characters needing to take control in a world that is no longer their own. Enchantress does not enjoy being stuck in June's body any more than being on-display super soldier at Waller's command, and is learning how to play with the humans in her situation.


	3. The Aftermath

The aspect of this entire situation that would eventually come to disturb Rick the most was his reaction upon seeing the Enchantress atop him: he equal parts wanted to scream and climax. 

And why not? From the very moment he’d first encountered June in that pool of water and she’d looked up at him, imploring help – the ancient deity had been present as well. There was no having June without also having Enchantress. He was terrified of her, possibly more than June was, as he doubted the witch would ever harm her host body. 

Yet he would come to crave more of that darkness…and that he couldn’t have. He was a good soldier and a noble man. He could not succumb to evil’s temptation. 

This was precisely why – as soon as Rick saw the truth, his instincts kicked in. 

Play along.

“Okay, okay,” Rick raised his hands and inched back toward the headboard very slowly, feigning helplessness despite the feeling of violation simmering in his chest. Ever so carefully, he switched on the lamp. “What do you want? Please let June come back. We just want to sleep.”

“I can give you what she cannot. I can give both of you what you need…”

That was all Rick needed to hear. Grabbing his cell off the bedside table in the dark, he swiftly punched in the two-digit code to page Waller. At this time of night, the secret agent would know exactly what his page meant. 

He’d just managed to hit the last key when the cell flew across the room and hit the wall, shattering in three pieces as the cover broke off. Rick was suddenly very aware of his nakedness.

“I am not the toy,” It was unnerving how she drew on June’s vocabulary to learn their language so quickly. “I play with you when I want. I stop when I want.”

Flag chuckled darkly, too fatigued and shaken up to care anymore. “Is that right? You got a problem with Waller putting your pretty powers on display?”

“You don’t speak of power, you have no idea…”

That was when the witch cried out in that strange rasp and convulsed with pain, dropping to her knees. At least Waller was good for something.

“Give me back June. Now.” Rick ordered, glaring down at the smoky aura on the floor before him, the creature's eyes boring into his own with something between rage and humiliation. 

Gradually, the ashen grey dissolved away into the sleeping form of June, her dirty blond hair splayed on the carpet like a halo.

It didn’t take long for Waller to call back the following morning for a check-in. That was where things got messy. 

June never had any recollection of what the witch did. She would have no idea what had transpired the night before. And so she was curious.

“That was Amanda?” asked the young archaeologist, stepping out onto the small balcony with him. “What happened? I had such bad dreams last night. I wanted to wake up, but I couldn’t. It was like something was holding me down.”

Rick wouldn’t look at her and perhaps that was his mistake. It was something his fellow recruits had fantasized and told stories about for years in the barracks. The threesome. Although this was hardly a threesome. More like the ménage à trois from hell. And June couldn’t even truly be a player. 

But he owed her honesty. She had been and was still going through so much, it was the least he could do.

“She was here.”

The look of concern in June’s bright blue-green eyes prodded painfully at his core. “Did she hurt you?” Of course that would be her first concern. What hurt most was that it was actually furthest from the truth. 

“I stopped her.”

“How?” June persisted.

“Called Amanda…” Rick shut his eyes, then took a deep breath.

“Rick…” June’s voice grew quieter, “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

A lengthy pause. “How much do you remember?” Rick asked finally.

“I was so tired…my eyes felt like led. I just fell right to sleep. Why?”

“So…nothing?”

“Nothing what?”

“We didn’t…you didn’t…at all?”

Despite the worst job at forming a sentence Rick had likely ever attempted, June’s deathly silence told him she had caught on. 

“No.” The way she stated it, so quietly yet bluntly, reminded Rick of last night, when the Enchantress had gripped his wrists to keep him from feeling her long hair. 

But this was his June. Someone he loved and was allowed to desire. And someone whose glistening green eyes were eating at his insides. 

“You didn’t…” was all she whispered. 

“June, look,” Rick started, “I…”

“Did you sleep with her?”

As much as that sounded like a clichéd line from a soap opera, it still hurt.

“It was you,” Rick interjected, “Your body. And I didn’t sleep with her – er, you.”

June took a shaky breath. “So how far did it go before you didn’t end up fucking her?”

Rick almost winced at her uncharacteristic language. “Look, June. I knew it wasn’t you pretty much right away, okay? It was pitch black last night, I guess she must have taken over sometime during the thunder storm. It was pretty loud. But I could tell it wasn’t you before…”

“She used her mouth on you…I was honest about how I don’t do it. Was that what clued you in?”

Rick wondered if that was a rhetorical question. He was at an utter loss for words.

“What’s the matter?” June probed, her voice rising about an octave, “You don’t have the balls to say it to my face?”

“I told you, I did not sleep…”

“Don’t use that Lewinsky excuse. It’s not even what bothers me the most. It’s the fact that you couldn’t tell the difference between me and some creature.”

Again, Rick was silent.

“Or…maybe I just have to show you my fun side,” June continued as if the tears weren’t falling freely down her cheeks. 

When she dropped to her knees and started pulling at his belt, Rick wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and hide. 

“Stop it now, stop that,” Rick demanded albeit gently as he took her hands. “You shouldn’t do something you don’t want to do. Not ever.”

“But I do, every day, Rick. Every day – every second - this thing is inside me and apparently now it can do what it wants whenever it wants. So go ahead – go tell your Agent Waller how you screw around with her asset.”


	4. The Upper Hand

June couldn’t believe the information she’d just heard. She couldn’t truly process it for a good several hours after learning it.

So he thought he’d been playing around with June, because it was her body? Did he not realize she would have no memory of it? How that would feel for June? Was he claiming that the Enchantress had violated him? That would be rich. No – it was truly something he had wanted. June shuddered and nearly gagged at the thought of how it must have felt for him. 

Did Enchantress even feel human to the touch? She must in order to have deceived him for so long the night before…

Then June’s thoughts took a strange turn. She found her fantasies straying to how Waller must have stopped the witch by stabbing her heart. Rick must have successfully called her at some point to make the Enchantress become June again. Would she have dropped to her knees, looking up at Rick?

How June wouldn’t mind seeing the little bitch on her knees…

 

The next week was hell. June stayed awake for about 48 hours straight, dosing up on espresso and redbulls from the room's mini fridge just to make sure she wouldn’t fall asleep again.

“June,” Rick insisted, “Seriously. You have to give me more credit. That mix-up will not happen again.”

June ignored him. Instead of listen to his rambling, she decided to leave the apartment for a while to the balcony. It was a small balcony, but the darkness of the night sky and gentle rain on her face felt so soothing. 

She wanted to get to that place again – that half-asleep state where she could speak freely with her alter-ego without letting either one dominate the other. She could do it, she knew she could. Waller and even Rick might view her as this helpless human, but she’d show both of them – especially Rick – that she had her shit together.

After what felt like mere minutes, June felt gentle fingers pull on the outer reaches of her consciousness. 

“You called me, June.”

“I did not call…”

Suddenly, June glanced around, slightly startled. She was clearly awake again, out on the balcony. The soft falling of rain was the only sound that permeated the silence of the humid evening. 

Then she saw them – multiple glowing ashes emerging from the shadows of the balcony before her. This was the first time the Enchantress had materialized as a separate being from June since the initial possession. 

Rising slowly from her trademark squatting position, the witch sauntered over to June. 

“You look sad…” the witch stated. That accent was grating on June’s nerves. 

“Cut the crap,” June snapped. The creature before her simply stared, unfazed.

Trying to steady her breathing. “We all know you don’t like to be played with. No one likes what Waller does. But that doesn’t mean you get to play with others’ lives. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“…What wrong did I do, June?”

“Rick,” June practically snarled, “He. Is. Not. Yours.”

A brief pause. Then - 

“We are the same,” the Enchantress deadpanned, “You want to please him, and I want to please you. You are my body, so I care only for you. But I…step in to help you.”

“So you let Rick cum in your mouth? To help me?”

The witch cocked her head in that creepy, primal manner of hers.

“No one came, June. He was already there.”

“No, genius,” June spat, exasperated. “I mean, he - never mind. I can’t do this with you.”

“You mean the seed. I did not allow that, it disgusts me. I told you, I do this only because you won’t.”

“What?”

“It is you, June. Not him. You are the one that helps me live again. If a human wants fun with me, it will be yours.”

“Then why give Rick blue balls?” A pause. Translation into ancient demon speak. “Why not the seed?”

“This is not my purpose. He seeks to use me. So I play with him. You do not play. You help me. I can give you everything you want…pleasing him also makes you happy.”

June was at a loss for words.

“But…” the witch before her began again, closing the distance between she and June, swiftly taking the human’s chin in her fingers “Pleasing you makes me happy.” 

…

“He won’t know,” the Enchantress dropped her voice even lower, as if spilling a secret. “Just you and me.”

For the first time since last night, June felt herself smiling. She would make it very clear who truly had the upper hand here.

Later that evening, June took a deep breath and made the call. The first call to her family in over half a year.

Voicemail. Thank God. She couldn't even imagine what to say if someone had actually answered. Following her brother Michael's snarky message that pretended to be a live person to psych out the caller, June quipped a message just brief enough to not risk someone picking up. Just a short blurb to tell everyone she was fine and that she loved and missed them. She couldn't believe Michael was still only 18 and living at home. How she suddenly longed to have that life again. The nerdy girl with the big dreams had finally gone too far.

She could do this. She would do this, not simply to be normal once again but to return to her beloved family without worries of slaughtering them. That call that had reached the U.S. government - a report of one young woman who stumbled out of a cave in the Ancash Region of the Andes, only to take out an entire Peruvian border police squad with the wave of her hand. The call that had started Waller on her trail so she sent Colonel Rick Flag to find this young archaeologist. That day had marked the first time she'd witnessed dead human bodies, two of which were the local mountain guides who had graciously accompanied her on this trek. She couldn't possibly have heeded their warning about those caves. No, she just had to be the curious foreigner - intent on digging for the reason beyond these age-old superstitions.

No more lives would be taken.


	5. The Tides Turn

Rick ran his hand through his hair. The meeting with Waller hadn’t even begun and already he was stressing. His boss had requested he bring June with him so they could keep her on tight watch in an adjacent room in sight of multiple security cameras. However, it couldn’t be the same room this time. Amanda had something to discuss with Rick.

“So,” stated the woman before him as she finally took her seat after checking all the panels were sealed in the war room. “What happened? You’ve never called in the middle of the night before. How did she take over?”

“Well,” Rick began, “It was a thunderstorm, pretty loud. So I guess maybe Enchantress made June say her name during one of the thunderclaps…”

“Was June asleep at the time?”

“I think so,” Rick replied.

Waller didn’t look pleased. “So that means June becomes vulnerable once she sleeps. Well that’s bad news, Rick. This creature is clearly angry. Did she say anything to you? Prior to the last meeting, she’s never spoken in the presence of anyone save June, that I’ve been told. Now suddenly she's finding her voice?”

“She said something about not wanting to be played with. If you don’t mind my asking, ma’am. Are you sure we really need her? Isn’t it an unnecessary risk to take when we don’t even have an immediate risk we want her for?”

“That’s just it,” Waller retorted coolly, “We have her on standby. With all of the potentially hostile metahumans we’ve encountered in this city and this country as of late, shouldn’t we be ready with one who can be controlled?”

“Yes, but if we can’t really control her—

“We can with the heart. I can. Or maybe you don’t want her to be completely controlled. What’s the matter, Rick? Is it a fear of hurting June or a fear of losing that other part of her?”

“That thing is not June. June is human,” Rick interjected, a bit too defensively.

Waller smiled wryly, though it didn’t touch her eyes. “First rule of dealing with metahuman weapons. Never, ever grow attached to the weapon. Fascinating as the powers may be, it will kill you on the spot, if given the chance.”

As much as Rick wanted to argue that it was June he cared about and only June…he was very disturbed to realize that to do so would not be entirely honest. Package deal and all.

"The second rule is in the term - metaHUman," Waller continued, "They might look, move and think differently from us but ultimately, they are all vulnerable."

 

Meanwhile, next door June lay her head on her arms at the large mahogany desk and slipped back into her unconscious – to that halfway dozing point where she could speak freely with Enchantress. 

“Tell me,” June began, “I want to know. Why me?” It was the human’s secret wish that if she communicated enough with her alter ego, the witch would have less of a desire to overtake her at inopportune times. That, and until now, June had never asked this particular question.

“You were there, and you were curious,” the dark, lithe form across from her stated matter-of-factly. She just stood there at the other end of the table, eerily unmoving, staring at June as if they were engaged in a business meeting. She never liked sitting down with others for some reason. Too human, perhaps. The sight of something so otherworldly looked especially out of place in the drab government room, under the bright florescent lights. Then there was the fact that the creature was topless. That certainly didn't help. 

“Now I see how this world has changed. You all drink poison and ride machines instead of using your legs.”

“It’s called modernization,” June remarked, “It’s the way of today. Of now.”

“Wherever and whenever we are, it is now.” Enchantress seemed to falter a bit. “I am disappointed with this now. Nearly 7,000 years and you humans are still so primitive. Thinking you all rule over one another, when none of you have any idea of true power.”

Perhaps it was because she was learning English faster by drawing on June’s energy, but the archaeologist was amused that she could at least converse fluently with the witch beyond the usual choppy sentences. 

“Where are you from?”

Enchantress’s eyes narrowed a bit. Was she entertaining the possibility that June meant to find her weaknesses?

“Another plane,” was all the response she got. 

“No family?”

“Yes. Trapped also. I don’t wish to talk about this with you humans. So terrified of the unknown you seek to destroy it. Pitiful. Instead…tell me why it bothered you so much that I pleasured your mate for you?”

June nearly scoffed and snorted all at once. “That wasn’t for me. Admit it. Over 6,000 years is a long time to wait and anyone gets restless.”

“I am not human and not bound in the same ways you are. However…on this plane, desires seem to have to be put into…categories, you call them. Gender. Man and woman. From these two, I do not prefer man. Women are life-givers. They are the only part of your species that interests me.”

Okay, this was taking a very strange turn. 

“That’s why it disgusted you…”

“Yes,” the witch replied flatly, “I work through your desires. His desire for you. You use the word pheromones.”

“See, that’s where you can’t have your way,” June cut in briskly, suddenly recalling Rick's handseyness with her that night. “If you want to please me like you say, stay the hell away from him. If you do that again, we’ll have your heart injured a lot worse than that.” 

“We?” The Enchantress was now leaning in, her gaze burning into June’s, “You both crave the unknown. That is why you entered that cave. It is why your Rick risks his life every day. I simply admire that about him, as it is unusual for humans to seek the unknown. In you, this boldness is captivating. You are not only brave but also a knowledge seeker. I have already told you my lack of desire for man. As for my heart, well…”

As she trailed off, the creature before her approached June slowly and sank softly to her knees, her own blazing eyes gazing up into June's identical stare. “It is not needed. If you want me on my knees, all you must do is ask.”

June was so dumbfounded by now, all she could do was whisper. “But Rick – and Amanda…”

“Need the heart, yes. Because they are not you.”


	6. Learning, Adapting

So it wasn’t Waller’s interest in her powers that angered the Enchantress – it was the fact that, while Waller had the witch’s heart, said powers were limited. Of course, thought June bitterly. The witch lived – or existed – to be worshipped. To have her abilities glorified was something she would surely want. 

Rick had a lot to mull over as he and June drove back to the hotel. Waller’s words and especially her stare had him fairly on edge. It was as if she knew what had transpired between him and the creature the night prior. Perhaps that notion was silly, but it still made him feel oddly…exposed. 

The worst part was that Rick couldn’t stop thinking about that warmth. He was starting to crave it so much he was kicking himself for not letting June finish the job that the other had started. 

But he could never take advantage of June that way…she was so proper and pure, diligent and honest. Just the right type to stick with long-term or maybe even your whole life. 

Still….that tongue, the pressure of those lips…

No! He needed to snap out of this. That was not June…not June and yet still so human in the way she panted above him and how she faltered just as he reached the edge…. As they pulled up to the hotel, Rick sighed. It was a seedy area, and Rick found himself feeling restless, longing for the base, the barracks. Anything more secure than this. Now the government was too cheap to pay for a hotel in a nicer area? Hopefully Waller would tell them exactly why she needed the Enchantress soon so they could move to a more permanent and ideal location. Blindly following orders sucked sometimes. 

Yet without his military status and resources, who was he? Just some guy from the Louisiana swamps with no father to teach him how to protect the women close to him. A nobody - at least no one with the capacity to protect June in all this chaos. June was all that mattered. Safe, innocent, _human_ June. 

 

“Tell your chief woman to stop calling me a witch,” was the first thing Enchantress said to June when she began to doze. Good, she was talking directly to her. Less of a chance for impromptu possession. 

“You mean Amanda?” June asked, obviously tired but willing to hear out the request if it meant keeping Enchantress at bay.

“Witches are magic-users on your plane. They achieve this by making a deal with…the devil. I do not know any devil. I have always had my power, it is who I am. No one gave it to me. What I do is magic to you primitives, but…”

“Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself speak?” June asked, exasperated. On the cusp of sleep and she really craved a drink right now. “We’re different here, okay? We’re not used to all that. And you have smoke and ashes floating around you and fire in your eyes. How is that normal?”

A pause. “I have no fire or ash. Those things come from melted mountains – volcanoes.” Apparently, June was a walking dictionary for this woman. “I have energy. What you see is how that energy exists on this plane.”

Hmm. As an archaeologist, June had to admit her thirst for knowledge was piqued. “What’s it like where you’re from? Why did you come to this…plane?”

“It’s a long story, child. I will say that you pr…humans are more appreciative of our splendor.”

“So you’re here for an ego boost,” June scoffed, “Well, hate to break it to you, but the ancient Amerindian cultures may have been a little more receptive to your ‘magic’. Today we understand the vast expanse of science, so it takes a bit more to impress us.”

The Enchantress laughed then, soft and hollow like the distant call of a nightingale. “Perhaps. And yet, you seek to use me as a weapon. Or your leader woman does. I can devastate whole cities at once, walk across different planes, but I fight only for myself and for you, my host. Remember that, June Moone.”

June now realized she must be fully immersed within this dream-state because she found herself back in the cave. She followed Enchantress, as the black-haired girl led her out of the rock’s mouth. Breathing in, June’s lungs thrived on the fresh, humid air of the rainforest. The birds sang all around, as the sun shone softly through the green canopy of leaves overhead. June was thankful to distance herself from the dark maw with the many skulls laying within.

“How are you still alive?” June asked the first thought that came to mind, “After all this time?”

The Enchantress turned languidly to look at her and dropped gracefully to a small boulder by the cave’s entrance. 

“This is my home. My energy here never dies.”

"But your heart contains it-" 

"Foolish girl, that is not a heart like what you have. It is not an _organ_ ," she nearly spat the last word, "it is a - capsule of my energy that centers it, nothing more. It is the channel that matters." 

June decided to leave that be for now, too fatigued to ask the meaning of 'channel'. Better stick to simple questions this time of night. “Did you always look like that?”

The dark-haired woman smiled, “Like you?”

“You know what I mean.”

Another short silence. “On this plane, I appear in the garb of those who once loved me and my family. The first and the only who ever loved us. That and I much prefer their way of dress to yours of today. The weather here is more pleasing than the cold of your Midway City. You also have no trees…I do miss their speech.”

Speech? 

May as well ask now. "Could you please - just cover your chest? It does not fit the ways of today to show what women have there, and the...Chief Woman will take you more seriously." 

Although she expected a tirade about not caring what the primitive humans thought of her, etcetera - June was surprised when, after a pause, the woman before her motioned a hand over her own chest and an upper bodice of dark gold materialized. 

"As you wish." 

Again, June noticed the metahuman was playing with the bracelets on her wrist. Seems even gods have nervous habits.

June pressed on, “And where you come from?”

The creature averted her gaze. “Past is past,” were the words she finally settled upon. 

The Enchantress punctuated her statement by rising to her feet and taking June’s hand. “Let us focus on the here and the now. Come, I will show you my favorite place in this jungle.”

Meanwhile, June rose from her place beside Rick in bed. Exhausted from his lack of sleep the night before, the soldier barely stirred as the woman next to him silently left the bed and made her way through the door to the room, down the hall and descended to the pool area. 

The gate was locked. No matter, as the spirit within her used a snippet of energy to free the latch and June strode purposefully to the water’s edge.

 

Back in the rainforest, June and her guide reached a clearing in the dense foliage. The stream opened up into a creek that disappeared back into the jungle with a gentle rush. The sound was so soothing…

“You like it?” whispered a voice in her ear and June didn’t even jump at the sudden closeness. Her mind was hazy and she felt safe. “The water is sacred to my people…by day, it nourishes many creatures and by night, it plays the song of the moon. Now, just let yourself feel.” That last sentence sounded like an echo all around her.

June vaguely recalled her time in the pool beneath that pentagram, around the time of the initial possession.

"Why the septagram?" asked the young archaeologist. "You made me paint it..." Rick had come then for the first time. Even then, the creature had already been here, inside her...

"The symbol's seven points represent the seven dimensions my kind can walk. Out of them all, I like this one best." Seven dimensions...

Even as arms that had no temperature encircled her waist, hands ascending lazily to stroke lightly over her breasts – June simply closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the soft chest of her double. 

In the depths of her sleep-ridden mind, June had the slightest notion that Rick might be looking for her out here…and how mindblowingly hot it had been that this creature had sucked him off and was now apparently wanting to do the same to her. Let the witch believe what she wanted – powers or no, she was still the little sex slave to June and Rick. Giving into her sexual curiosities was not only just human, it was considered weak on this plane, and hardly a move one would expect from someone who fancied herself a goddess. Viewing the whole situation this way made the demon's encounter with Rick sting just a little less for June.

Yet June would never admit that to the woman in question. She was much too determined to see what this entity could do for her. They were both trapped in a sense, so may as well make the most of what they had. 

As if reading her mind, the creature spoke up, "Your people today shame the physical act you all require to reproduce. Why? Why not simply give in..." 

As the Enchantress began kissing her neck in the forest, June dropped to her knees by the poolside back at the hotel. Hands tangled in each other’s hair as June brought her twin's face around to her own. Quickly, the kiss deepened as the two women’s tongues fought for dominance. Rick had only been her second kiss, and he was a good kisser. Curt yet with a gentle side. Enchantress was all passion and frenzy. The human couldn't get enough...until the thought of this demon actually kissing Rick - such an intimate action - brought her partially back to reality. 

All at once, June broke away. “How is this possible?” was the second thought she voiced. “How are you here?”

“On your plane, I am bound to you and can only exist when you do not,” came the husky reply, dark fingers interlacing with paler, similar to the first step of their transformation. “In your mind, well…we can exist together.”

June had dipped her head in to recapture the lips before her when the Enchantress went rigid, glancing around with that disturbingly quick, fluid sway of her head. 

“We are not alone.”


	7. Bow

No sooner had Enchantress sensed the presence of other humans near where June stood that a shrill scream sounded from not far outside the fence around the swim area. 

“Stop it! Help!” someone shouted. It sounded like a woman.

Back in her jungle reverie, the Enchantress mouthed in June’s ear. “I’ll be back.” 

“No, let me go. I have to get back to Rick…”

“It’s not safe and he cannot help you now,” the other woman cut in sharply. 

Then she vanished and June was left alone in the peace of the dreamscape.

The air - polluted many times over by manmade chemicals - was possibly the most repulsive feature of this new world.

Having replaced June in her physical body, the Enchantress sniffed at the humid, acrid air and flexed her fingers experimentally before striding across the pool yard and phasing through the tarp fencing. There she saw a strange sight…

A man had a woman backed against a car and held a knife to her throat as he searched her coat and pants pockets for…was it gold? Money, as Enchantress recalled was today’s valuable currency.

“Stop moving and shut it, bitch.”

That word. June had called her it on more than one occasion. 

“Please,” the girl insisted, “I don’t have anything. Just my wallet, and you have that—

“I said shut up!” shouted the man, raising his fist. As the girl’s gaze flitted to where Enchantress now stood, her eyes widened, having just seen someone step through the wall.

Seeing his victim’s distracted stare, the man with the knife turned around just as Enchantress took a step forward. She was disturbed by this turn of events. In her day, the humans never attacked each other so, apart from battles between tribes. Never had she seen such one-on-one attempts at robbery of petty material objects - not when the people had her energy for their needs.... 

What's more, this girl could have easily been June. This man was dangerous and far too close to where her host body slept each night. 

“You will not harm her. Step away now.” She ordered the man who was looking her up and down.

“The hell? Get lost on the way back from ComicCon, princess? Go back home to your kinky boyfriend. This is none of your business.”

The Enchantress cocked her head in confusion at this new word - kinky. Then, “Let her go – and I will not hurt you.”

He had a small beard that Enchantress idly decided she didn’t like. The human males who used to worship her never grew hair on their faces. This one only had hair on his chin and none on his upper lip. She preferred Rick’s facial hair - on both lip and chin just the way June liked it.

The man scoffed darkly in a way that almost – almost – made the witch shiver. “Oh so that’s how you want to play? Rough, huh? You wanna try to hurt me?” 

Now he was striding toward Enchantress, as the girl against the car looked torn between running for it and staying to watch how this played out. 

The Enchantress stood tall. “Yes. Now I do.”

The man with the chin hair had scarcely gone to grab hold of her own tresses when she lashed out and backhanded him in the face, sending him soaring into the air so that he soared backward and landed on the hood of the car with a painful smash, triggering an ear-piercing alarm. 

Sensing that he was unconscious, Enchantress spoke up to the girl who had just narrowly dodged her attacker’s flying body. “Go now.”

“Thank you. Oh my God, thank you!” the young girl shrieked over the sound of the car alarm. Gingerly, she plucked her wallet from the thief’s jacket pocket. “I don’t even know what to say. H-how did you do that? Who are you? Totally just wrecked that car...”

The creature by the fence was silent as she waved a hand to shut off the alarm. The sound was most displeasing. This girl had clearly never seen anything like her…humans of today were not used to this kind of power. There truly was no worship here – not even recognition. Her time had passed, after all. Humans who would not bow were no good at all. Not when they cared more about their machines than each other. 

Yet this was still her home. There was work to be done. 

 

Leaving the mewling girl to run down the alleyway, the Enchantress had re-entered the pool yard. Soon enough, she phased back into June’s mind and rejoined her by the riverside in her home dreamscape. 

“You know,” June began as she looked up at her alter from beside the stream, “I can see just fine here. Never needed the glasses...” Interesting, how she wasn’t urgent in knowing where the witch had gotten to in her body.

In fact, June barely had a chance to ask what had happened when the Enchantress plundered her mouth, all teeth and tongue and pulling on the young woman’s golden hair. Fingers gripping her backside, June moaned at the touch and couldn’t even be bothered to feel guilty about Rick just now. Rick who was just upstairs and yet so far away. 

And June wasn’t complaining. 

As the ancient, beautiful deity took June by her waist and pulled her into the pool, the dream state had the human woman naked as she was dragged willingly into the stream of a South American tropical forest. Exotic birds sang overhead as the Enchantress lowered her mouth to June’s supple mound and began suckling on the sensitive pink bud at its center, alternating between fierce and gentle touch. 

Then when the woman before her slowly entered June with a soft digit, the archaeologist let out a surprised squeal. She had never been with a woman before and the touch was so different. Of course, that could have also been the fact that it was a 'god' who simply assumed female form to exist in this world. 

So strong, yet so gentle at the same time. 

“You are mine,” the Enchantress spoke against her throat as she parted June's legs further with her knee and inserted another finger. “He does not touch you like this. He cannot.”

There she was, bringing up Rick again, June noted bitterly. Time to silence her. 

So when the young archaeologist instinctively dropped to her knees in the shallow water and began nosing at the witch’s hidden area beneath her beaded string and cloth, she was slightly surprised that she met no resistance. In fact, the Enchantress let out a barely audible sigh.

Over 6,000 years, indeed. Moreover, it was June’s own body, yet this area had a distinct scent - exotic with a hint of spice. Why did that arouse the human woman even more?

June’s lazy thoughts were cut short when she nudged the cloth aside and took that nub of flesh between her lips, gently tonguing it ever so lightly. The action was met with a violent shudder from the Enchantress, as June lightly massaged one of the breasts above her head. 

“This body does please me. My child…why? So you do worship...” the woman above her trailed off as she lightly fingered June's hair. So her head was apparently on straight enough for curiosity. That alone demonstrated she definitely was not entirely human. 

June lifted her mouth away to speak words that she would later regret. But this was her dream and she was feeling brash. “You take over my body, walk around looking like me and try to screw my boyfriend. So now I’m going to fuck you. You’re going to learn” – a subtle nip to the delicate flesh of her inner thigh – “that no one here will bow to you anymore.”

Not the brightest choice of words. In what was a blur for June, the Enchantress grabbed her by the hair and tossed her into the stream bed so she was on all fours. Before June could turn around or right herself, she felt something small, warm and wet prod at her exposed folds.

“Yes,” followed a low, gleeful voice behind her, “Bow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus was born the realization that humans now worship machines (i.e. cars) more than they care about benevolent acts of power.


	8. Means to an End

It took only a few moments before June realized that whatever she did to Enchantress, she herself also felt and – judging from the passionate touch and heavy breathing of the creature in the water with her – it worked both ways. 

“The ways of this world…” gasped the Enchantress as the two women vied for dominance in the shallow water, “How are your bodies so weak? Temptation is so simple…”

June let up then, sitting back on her heels. She vaguely registered that the witch wasn’t nude, as she was. Not quite fair. “What do you mean? Wasn’t your last body the same?”

A brief pause as the Enchantress caught her breath and sat up, clear water streaming out of her long hair in rivulets and coating her shoulders and back in tiny crystals. Strange. Here, her normally ashen skin took on a bronzed hue, arguably darker than June’s own flesh. Similarly, her eyes had lost much of their usual illumination, looking far more human. The streaks of mud had vanished entirely.

“I have never taken a body before. The physical ways of humans have always seemed…mundane. Though I can see how you would view them as ‘fun’.” 

June stared. “So….how did you walk around back in your day?”

“My brother and I were not solid forms. To be solid was to be weak in our time…like the humans and animals of this plane.”

The archaeologist suddenly caught onto a different approach. “So…you’ve never had sex?”

Again with that bizarre head cock.

“You have never been with a human…intimately, I mean.”

“Only you.” Followed the languid reply. Good thing she avoided mentioning Rick. Wow. Who would have thought this 6,000-year-old creature would have been more a virgin than herself? Why was that strangely arousing? “And you?”

“Only Rick,” June muttered, suddenly unable to look the other in the eyes. She somehow had the inkling that the other could easily withdraw this information on her own from June's mind, a rather terrifying thought. 

“He is a fine warrior,” came the voice of the Enchantress, silky and husky all at once, “He loves you. He loves us.”

The witch must have anticipated June about to protest that last statement, for she leapt upon the young scientist with the grace of a jaguar. Inching from June’s navel up to her breasts and finally to her face, the ancient being took hold of the younger woman’s jaw in what was perhaps the most tender gesture ever exchanged between the two.

June found she no longer cared to resist, as the Enchantress’s warm lips took her own. 

“You are mine,” was all the creature whispered before she nosed her way back down her body.

 

Meanwhile, Rick was frantic once he had awoken and realized June was nowhere to be found inside their room. After searching the billiards room and the empty dining area on the first floor, he made his way out to the pool yard – and stopped short.

The moonlight shone with a strange ripple across the water's surface, and there were two women by the pool. No…one was in the pool below the other who was sitting at the water’s edge, with her feet in the water. 

The soldier did not even need to approach to recognize the one sitting at the edge as June. He could tell by the slender form and the flow of sandy, shoulder-length hair. It covered her back, reflecting silvery in the moonlight. And that was all that covered her back. 

June was stark naked by the poolside. Taking a few steps further, Rick could pick up on soft sighs coming from what sounded like June. 

Damn it, why did he keep on walking? No sooner had he approached a spot several meters from the pair that the head of the one in the water peered from around June’s thigh, her gaze falling directly on Rick. Like two matches lit in the shadows that hid from the milky light of the moon –all the while keeping her mouth hidden on the other side of June’s hip.

Flag nearly jumped as June suddenly let out a keening moan and lay back softly on the cement behind her, her chest rising and falling the only sign of life thereafter. 

Rick blinked. June lay alone by the empty pool, shiny with perspiration in the gentle moonshine. 

 

The next morning was a haze. Rick was trying desperately to ignore what he had seen as some trick of the light. June had sleepwalked, nothing more. Enchantress couldn’t have gotten out, because the witch never would have slipped back under so peacefully. So willingly. 

Just sleepwalking. Rick kept repeating this mantra in his head as he forced himself to focus on what Amanda was telling him on the other end. “We need you to come in this afternoon.”

“Will June go in that other room again? I don’t like leaving her alone…” 

“It’s for her own good, Rick. She can’t be privy to what you war. She’s just a vessel. We keep her safe, yes. But the priority is assembling this team.”

“Now it’s a team?” Rick pried.

“Just be here at 3PM,” Waller deadpanned and hung up. 

June didn’t even give a rat’s ass anymore once Rick told her they had to go see Waller, meaning locking June next door. She was not a caged animal. She could do as she pleased. 

It wasn’t as if she didn’t feel a little guilty for what had happened…but it wasn’t technically unfaithful. It was in her head, after all. Rick said nothing had happened. He'd simply found her laying by the pool and figured she must have been sleepwalking. And anyway, maybe this made them even. 

And what an unbelievably incredible way to get even. In all her years, even with all that time experimenting alone by herself too afraid to venture out on dates during her arduous trek through school, June had never, ever felt like that. She didn’t know it was possible to feel like that. 

Sitting in the war room now and locked in cozily, June opened her bag and popped open the first mini bourbon snagged from their room’s mini fridge. 

….

A few bottles later and June felt hazy enough to relax but not quite enough to reach that in between level, and that was good. Can’t go getting addicted to the crazy thing inside – no matter what unreal feelings she stirred with her hands and mouth.

Time to call the family as a distraction. 

“Hello? June?”

“Hi, Mom…”

“June, what is going on? Where are you? Are you safe?”

Now June could feel the tears breaking free, her throat closing. “I-I’m fine, Mom. Tell Dad and Michael I love you all. I’ll figure it all out soon.”

“What the hell?” her mother protested, “That’s all we get?”

June had to take a deep breath to keep herself from immediately bristling at her mother's provocative tone. “Mom – I need you to believe me. I will be home soon. I promise. And…and I wanted to say you were right. I never should have gone off the path that day in the forest….”

So this was her life now.

Before her mother could say anything else, June hung up and chugged the rest of her third small bottle. Laying her head down on her arms, she let the darkness overtake her. Anything to just escape this torrent of new and old emotions. She could trust her…Waller’s tough defenses could handle anything, right?

With her last conscious thought, June breathed a single word. “Enchantress…”

In the other room, Rick glanced from Waller to the young woman before them. 

“Colonel Flag, meet Tatsu Yamashiro, better known as Katana,” Amanda announced.

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” Rick began as he stepped forward to shake her hand. 

Instead, the girl before him averted her eyes and simply inclined her torso slightly with a curt nod of her head. “Nice meeting you, Colonel Flag.”

“Colonel,” Amanda went on, “Our records tell us Ms. Yamashiro's skill with the sword is unprecedented. She was good enough to join us all the way from Osaka." 

"How is a sword gonna help against that thing in there?" 

Waller raised a brow. "Katana's sword is instilled with the ability to draw energy from organic matter, rendering the victim a vegetable. We reason it's some variety of electromagnetism." Convenient that she left out how this was all possible, Rick noted. Perhaps there were some mysteries even his government had yet to solve. "The witch is energy, nothing more. Ms. Yamashiro will stay guard with you and June at your hotel until the rest of our force is assembled.”

“Force?” Rick asked.

“Save the questions, please,” Waller admonished, “Katana will watch June when you cannot. You will take shifts seeing to it that the witch does not escape outside of our terms. Are we clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Katana nodded before Rick could say anything. Her voice was almost melodic, yet her tone staccato. 

“Good,” Amanda feigned a smile, “If either of you have any questions or incidents to report from the Enchantress, you know how to reach me.”

 

The Enchantress was quite flattered. It seemed this toxic drink had some use if only to break through June’s guard and let her walk free. Or perhaps June was still appreciative from the night prior. She certainly was chatty.

“Why do you study ancient things?” better keep the human occupied before she catches on that her body is elsewhere. 

“It all started with the Egyptian pyramids,” June slurred dreamily, “and then to discover that the Americas had built pyramids- temples - even higher!”

“Yes,” nodded the witch before her, “We helped the humans build them. We were gods, watching over them.”

“Gods…” June echoed, “To the Inca?”

“To countless peoples of the region for generations upon generations. My brother and I were rulers, as were others in different regions on this plane. They called him Inti of the Sun and me Kila of the Moon. Its light and my power were one for our humans.”

Hence her half-moon headpiece. Perhaps her power functioned using the lunar gravitational pull in this dimension. And so much for not mentioning family around lowly humans. How radiant the moon had been last night...

The archaeologist promptly shook her head of these thoughts. The more pressing matter of science was at hand. Under any other circumstances, June would have considered this discovery an incredible archaeological breakthrough. Who was she kidding, this was still very much a breakthrough. 

Then another thought came to her. “Wait. Why were you trapped? In the totem?” Moreover, were all ancient artifacts that were excavated and untouched thereafter also housing otherworldly entities?

Enchantress chose her next words carefully. Surely, no harm could come from a human with such a weak will. One who gave in so easily to temptation. “My heart is separate from myself when we walk in this dimension. Without it, we are vulnerable to be captured as…essence. Energy. Nothing new from what you already know, June.”

“Why Enchantress?”

The witch looked puzzled for a moment before she seemed to understand. “We have many names. Those from our home and those given to us by man. In your language, the word for a magic user seemed fitting, as your kind kneels for our power, calling it magic. It must be a name you yourself understand and that has meaning to you.”

“Meaning…”

"My turn for a question," interjected the creature before her, "Why did you break my prison? Is it not important to your science that you keep things as they are?" 

"I - I was curious. But you were calling my name..." 

"I was," admitted the witch, "but you did not have to succumb to temptation." 

June stared at the woman before her for several long moments, refusing to be the first to look away or even blink. 

That was when Enchantress sensed a presence not far beyond the door. Two humans. Rick and a female. 

The door opened abruptly. The female was of petite stature, but stood tall and held a weapon in her belt. Rick simply stopped in his tracks and stared at her. 

All at once, all acknowledgement of the human woman vanished as Rick stepped forward, nearly nose-to-nose with the creature before him. 

“What the hell was that last night?”

The bright lights above them began flickering violently as the Enchantress shifted, fiddling with the bracelet on her left wrist. Why were the security guards not on top of this? Surely they could see the creature on their multiple cameras? 

The Enchantress never let her gaze falter from the soldier’s eyes, even as she detected the other human drop a hand gracefully to her belt. “Is this permitted? I will tell Ms. Waller…”

“No,” Rick held up a hand, his glare unmoving. The lights stilled. “Listen…you freak. You tell me now. What did you do to her?”

“Nothing,” breathed the creature easily, “June is here with us.”

“Last night,” Rick pressed on, abandoning all caution and closing the gap to clutch both of the witch’s wrists. He knew he was playing with fire here, mostly where his own sanity was concerned. But he had to know. “What was that?”

“You were there,” replied the Enchantress, the hints of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth, “You saw exactly what it was.”

A pause. 

"Jealous, soldier? But of whom?" Came that husky tone. 

The red fog gathering on Rick’s vision only cleared as he heard Katana step up and swing her sword at the ethereal woman before them, the soldier only registering just in time that June could be harmed too. Even as black energy began swirling around the form before them - the flesh under Rick’s fingers dissipating - Tatsu didn’t let that stop her.

“This one has spirit,” chuckled the husky voice in June’s body.

Before the blade could strike, Katana and Colonel Flag found themselves staring down into the face of a very human June slumped against the wall surrounded by tiny, empty liquor bottles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait! It's been a hectic week. Affairs are wrapping up now and the Task Force assembly is in sight!


	9. Illusions

“June? June!” Rick nearly shouted as he sank to his knees and struggled to wake her. “She’s not waking up.”

“Has this happened before?” Tatsu asked suspiciously.

“No!” Rick was becoming frantic. “We need to tell Waller…”

“Looks like your lady friend had a bit too much to drink,” Amanda herself cut him off as she strode through the doorway. “Honestly, Flag. You never thought that keeping her clean might be part of your job?”

“June’s never done something like this. She never touches alcohol! It’s not like her.” Rick was trying his best to maintain composure. 

“Really?” Waller quirked a brow. “Perhaps when we’ve walked in her place, then we can judge and predict her actions. For now, we have to keep her under surveillance until she wakes up.”

The group of men had taken June’s unconscious form to another room. Some other room. Rick hadn’t the energy to ask, but he had enough confidence that Waller needed the witch badly enough so as not to risk her host’s well-being. 

Just as Amanda turned to brief Tatsu and Rick following the men’s departure, reached in her pocket and withdrew a vibrating pager. “Hello? Yes?”

A pause. “What have you told them? I see. Very good. No, no need to send them away. Please escort them upstairs. Suite 400.”

All this while, Rick had been daydreaming yet again back to the afternoon he and his squad had stumbled upon June in her apartment. She had begged for help. Sitting in that bathtub. So human and vulnerable – yet seeking help, unwilling to give up. 

“Who is coming?” Tatsu asked Amanda, breaking Rick from his reverie. 

“It appears Dr. Moone’s family has located our facility.”

“What? That’s impossible. No civilians have been able to locate ARGUS.” Rick insisted. Just how was their boss keeping such a cool right now?

“Indeed,” Waller turned to Rick, “Colonel, you had mentioned her father being a deputy sheriff of their hometown. Police have resources. Did June have her cell phone on her at all today while at the office?”

Damn it. “I didn’t think to ask…” Rick had never suspected June would need a reason to bring her cell phone. 

“At some point, she must have called them and stayed on the phone long enough for them to trace the call. It seems they may have been preparing to set this in motion if she ever did call.”

“So what now?” Rick asked.

“We carry on,” Amanda replied smoothly, “Sit them down and tell them that June is nearly finished treatment for a disease which has put her into a coma. A rare strain of yellow fever picked up in the Amazon. She came under our radar for strange behavior and went into the coma just this morning.”

“That seems…suspicious,” Tatsu chose were words carefully.

“Civilians will believe what authority tells them. They trust their government. Even police understand what we do is secretive yet ultimately for the greater good.”

Rick wasn’t so sure. June’s family was everything to her apart from her research. That was something that had initially stood out to him about the young scientist above all else. Unlike Rick, whose mother had raised him alone scraping by on food stamps in the outskirts of Baton Rouge, June had always had a loving father who would do anything to protect his family.

 

The wait couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, and yet Rick felt as though an eternity had passed before June’s family came into view. Her mother, father and younger brother, Michael.

The colonel’s mouth was dry as introductions were made. Tatsu was quiet, and Amanda was as stoically courteous as ever as she beckoned them to take a seat around the long table in the room’s center. 

“I am Felicity Marcus. We represent ARGUS Biotechnology, one of the elite research facilities working with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. These here are fellow researchers, Natsuki Kiyohara and Colonel Richards, who recently made the transition from army medicine to biotechnology." 

Clever name changes. 

Now that you are all seated, I have some difficult news. You daughter, June, is being treated for a tropical illness that we have determined to be a particularly evasive category of Yellow Fever. We believe she contracted this illness during her excavations in Peru. Unfortunately, at this time, she is…”

The door opened to reveal June herself. “Thrilled to see you guys! How did you all find me here?” 

Even Amanda was clearly taken off guard by this turn of events. There stood June, her golden hair free and silky smooth as though she hadn't just been lying down and her slacks and blouse neat as ever. 

Tatsu shifted slightly but remained seated, and Rick wished more than ever that he’d brought along a weapon. 

To her credit, Waller was the first to find her voice. “Dr. Moone, we’ve instructed you to rest for now. But while you’re here, why don’t you tell us what your family is doing here?”

Rick risked a side-glance at his boss? Despite, the very human movements of the woman before them, Waller had to know this couldn’t be June. And whoever had been supervising June’s sleeping body…

“She called us,” June’s father replied evenly. “While we respect your good intentions, we really should have been informed of this…treatment. She is our daughter, after all.”

“And I can speak for myself, Dad.” June cut in sweetly. “As I told Mom on the phone. I’ll be home in a while. I…cannot risk contaminating others.”

Rick knew Amanda must be reeling with hope that this thing had picked up American English idioms at breakneck speed. But this was her family. They would know something was off. 

Beneath the table’s edge, Rick folded his hands in his lap and dug his nails into his palms so hard he vaguely wondered if there’d be blood. This creature was crossing a line. Threatening the lives of even more civilians.

“Come on, June,” he let slip, “there’s plenty of danger out there too.” He looked directly into the green gaze that stared back from across the table, just a little too long without blinking.

Michael spoke up then, probably sensing the tension. “June! You – your hair’s down. It looks nice.”

Right. That right there could have clued them all in. June never wore her down except to bed. 

‘Thank you, Michael. I forgot how much I’ve missed my brother.” Her smile almost looked genuine. “What have you all been up to these days?”

“Oh you know,” her mother tried cautiously, “Just work. The flower shop and your father has the station. Michael’s applying to schools.”

“The dream’s the military right, though?” her father looked to his son and smiled in a way that seemed like he might be softening just a bit.

“Yeah,” Michael returned with a grin of his own and laughed a bit. “They get to travel more than cops. Sorry, Dad.”

“Really, now?” Amanda chimed in. “Colonel Flag here is in the military. You travel quite a bit, don’t you, Colonel?”

“Um, yeah,” Rick tried to pull himself together. He had to play along. All of their lives could depend on it. If the witch didn’t kill them, Waller might. “Yeah, spent some time in Afghanistan and investigations in Japan.”

“So you speak other languages?” Michael seemed intrigued. “I want to learn Arabic.”

“Conversational Japanese,” Rick replied, still a tad distracted.

“Oh yes?” Tatsu jumped on the bandwagon of distraction from the elephant. “We should practice sometime.”

“Oh, you’re from Japan, dear? That’s very nice. And you work with the Colonel?” Rick didn’t want to mention to Mrs. Moone how he had only just met Katana today.

“Yes,” the one who looked like June piped up from beside Amanda, “Rick likes to surround himself with…exotic company. Don’t you?”

Again with that stare. Rick was really getting the urge to strangle and tear apart something all at once. He’d never seen the Enchantress take June’s exact form before, much less exhibit such an uncanny intimation of the American accent. Beyond the slightly slow pace of speech, she sounded exactly like June.

“Actually,” Michael broke the silence again as he reached into his backpack and took out what appeared to be a textbook. “I’ve been reading this. What do you think, Colonel?”  


Rick caught the book smoothly as Michael slid it across the table’s slick surface. “The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century”…the colonel read off quietly. 

“It’s the neatest thing, huh? How you can use all that energy to take out so much all at once?”

Rick had to stifle a scoff. This kid had a very idealistic view of things, to put it mildly. “Sure is something.”

From the other end of the table, Dr. June Moone had become wholly intrigued.


	10. Game On

The one who had once been called Kila bid farewell to her vessel’s family. “It was great seeing all of you again. Thank you so much for checking in and I promise to be home soon.”

Before departing, June’s mother lightly touched Kila’s cheek. “It’s amazing you’ve survived this, you are so strong…and different. Are you sure everything is all right?”

She finished off the last part barely above a whisper.

Kila’s eyes darted over to Michael and June’s father, wondering how long the three Moones would live after leaving. Finally, she smiled at the woman before her. “I’m fine, Mom. Keep Dad and Michael out of trouble till I get home.”

That touch haunted Kila even after the Moone family was long gone. It had been the first truly gentle, loving touch she’d experienced in this form. The first such gesture ever since her brother, Inti. 

She didn’t like how this Waller woman played with people. How the entire leadership of the allegedly most powerful nation on this new earth – the United States – led the world’s development of these lethal weapons. What’s more, all nations of this planet now seemed happy to destroy one another simply to prove a point. 

This wouldn’t do. The people today lacked a centralized authority. There was no going back. A clean slate was needed. Kila decided a select few could stay. Humans who had no true sway and would not question the rule that she would join forces with Inti to recapture. June’s family, perhaps, to keep her docile. Maybe even Tatsu and Rick as mortal warriors who could help encourage their species into submission once more. 

And how should it be done? Kila knew she could channel her power somehow, definitely with Inti there to help…

The humans had managed to trap them long ago. Played a game of their own in learning the sleep patterns Kila and Inti partook in every moon cycle and trapping their suspended energy inside clay idols.

Overall, no invention of this new world had struck her as had the concept of the nuclear weapon. They called them hydrogen and atomic bombs. A compilation of the smallest components of matter and energy assembled into a giant – could it be called a machine? – that could wipe out all organic life in this realm. 

That was the answer – create and display such a weapon to destroy the blinded humans and lead the way for the fresh crop bred from those she would keep alive. Crawling under the skin of the human burden - desires and such - had taught her all too well just how slave their species really was to their raw emotions. It would destroy them, and she could not let that happen. Moreover, she _would_ not let their destructiveness keep her from family any longer.

After all, if it was just a game – _anyone_ could play.

 

Meanwhile, Amanda Waller waited until the thing that looked like June returned before taking out her pager and speaking into it. Thankfully, the creature had acted as expected and rejoined them here after seeing off the Moone family down the hallway.

“Yes, it’s me. Send one squad to reprehend the civilians before they leave the main entrance. Leave no one…”

Waller didn’t get to finish as the fluorescent lights overhead flickered and then went out, leaving everything in pitch blackness. Somewhere deep in the building, there came a thump as the backup generator roared to life. A power outage.

"All doors unlocked," came the monotone female voice of the security system.

All the doors? Was she letting June's family escape? Damn, how far away was the heart? Could she get to it in time?

These thoughts and others beckoned to Amanda as she heard Katana withdraw her sword in the darkness as the ember eyes of the Enchantress glowered down at them – from up above.

“Get down from there immediately,” Waller commanded, her excitement just concealing the nervous waver in her voice, “You don’t frighten us.” 

That was when Rick – who had been holding his breath – heard the low hiss coming from all around them. Something large was slithering about the upper walls of the room. Now that his eyes had adjusted, he could just make out a long, behemoth form in the light of the eyes and lightly glowing aura of the Enchantress. The thing seemed to gently coil about the witch’s arms and came to rest upon her shoulders as she stroked it almost lovingly. Was she suspended in mid air or clinging to the wall? Rick couldn’t tell.

“You will not harm June’s family.” Came that husky lilt. 

“What do you care of humans?” Waller pushed. “Aren’t they insignificant to you?”

“We love our subjects,” returned the voice which somehow still seemed too disembodied for comfort, “We do not like games. When insects run rampant and seek to destroy all in their path, we crush them. Only the peaceful may live.”

We? Seemed as if there might be others like this beast…could be useful.

“You…” Amanda’s voice was cut off once more by the feel of lightly moist, velvety scales brushing lightly against her cheek from the shadows above.

“Submit now, and no one will be harmed.” The smile in the witch’s voice was evident, almost as if she was counting on Waller's resistance. 

Amanda huffed. This kind of power was exhilarating, no doubt about that. But this world in this time had seen far worse than giant Amazonian serpents...and this girl had a long way to go before learning her place. Waller would enjoy breaking her. 

“No,” Amanda choked out with as much steel as she could muster. “No more tricks.”

All at once, the scales were gone and the lights came back on. 

Neither June Moone nor the Enchantress was anywhere to be seen. 

Taking a deep breath, Amanda let her excitement mask her fear as she struggled to contain her mirth at the idea of subjugating this entity into the most powerful weapon the world had ever known.

 

Back on the gurney in the medical lab, June sat up with a start. Frantically, she observed the unconscious medical staff and guards at the entrance, all laying on the ground. Were they dead? No. Chests were rising and falling.

What had happened? 

That was when a chill – colder and deeper than she had ever felt in her life – seeped throughout her limbs as she proceeded to pull out her I.V. and nasal canula. 

_Welcome back, June. Your family says hello._

That was it, June decided. The creature had gone too far this time. No one threatened or impersonated June with her own family. It was at that moment when the two sides of June – fight or flight – that had been warring ever since the initial possession reached a conclusion with fight emerging the victor.

Yes, she was terrified. Horrified, in fact. But nothing was worth more than her family. June now knew that nothing was more important than the need to protect that family and stop at nothing to destroy this dark presence inside her. 

Even if it killed her.  


At that last thought, the darkness within seemed to chuckle softly.

_Very well. Have it your way, child._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then all hell broke loose. xD
> 
> I really wanted to provide a backstory as to why the Enchantress built her 'machine'. Basically, she sees June wanting her body back as a threat to Kila's own family and former way of life (rule), and does not believe that she and Inti can live securely alongside (or leading) a species who want them gone.
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed! As always, reviews are welcome and encouraged. :)


End file.
